As you've developed as a landlord, you have likely found some tips and tricks that work for you. You've gotten to know insider knowledge that makes being a landlord in your local area easier. What is essential, moving forward, is to leverage your successes to this point to see significant growth in your property investment portfolio. To develop this expansion, you'll need to use your current networks, build new ones, and understand the market to make calculated moves.
Work with Good Wholesalers and Fix-Flip Investors
While you can keep an eye out and dig deep through market research, there are other ways to find great home buys: Wholesalers will keep an eye out for the kind of properties you want and buy them to sell to you immediately. While there are some variations of this arrangement, the main goal of these buyers is to get the house in question for you to then "buy and hold" as a landlord.
Fix-Flip investors, to contrast, buy the property to do some rehab on it. One sustainable way to grow your business is to know the best fix-flip investors in Carlsbad. The level of workmanship matters in a house flip: you want the property to receive a substantial enough renovation or renewal to fetch an excellent rental rate and, eventually, a good return when it is sold. If you work with a fix-flip investor, it could be helpful to talk to others who have purchased rental properties from him or her, since their experience of the quality of work could be valuable to your choice.
These two kinds of investors should be in your network if you're interested in growing your real estate investment portfolio. When you don't have time to monitor the markets constantly, your connection to fix-flip investors and wholesalers may bring great deals to your front door.
Buy New in Certain Markets
There are markets where—due to a combination of market factors and home repair costs—it may make sense to buy new homes rather than older ones. One type of home, for instance, would be duplexes. These buildings allow you to get into multi-family units without switching your business model entirely away from single-family homes. Much of the rental process for the two units of a duplex is the same as for a single-family home.
Pay attention to both what you can afford to add to your portfolio—but also to what is being rented very quickly. Don't let the "sticker shock" of new home prices chase you away from an ultra-low-maintenance deal on a new property.
One thing to note: This may not be the case in a particular neighborhood where you invest; evaluate for yourself what the ROI on new homes would be.
Make Sure You're Evaluating All the Costs
Cutting costs is one of the hardest—but most necessary—parts of the growth process. To sustain growth, you need reliable revenue and profits keeping the machine turning. If your cash flow calculations are revealing cash sinks for properties that you expected to be less costly, its time to start deciding if there are changes to be made.
For instance, if you have added expensive upgrades to a property that make it a luxury rental but haven't raised the rent to a luxury-home level, you are leaving money on the table. On the other hand, if you are continually fixing items in an older home only to see tenants choose not to renew their lease, you have to question whether you are finding the right tenants or fixing the home thoroughly. This cost-cutting process may reveal properties that—as soon as you encounter a seller's market—need to be put back on the market.
Hire a Professional Property Management Company in Carlsbad
The more you grow your real estate investment portfolio, the less it makes sense for you to do the menial legwork. Landscaping, handyman duties, tenant screening, and rent collection can be done by a team of professional property managers and their network of repair and maintenance vendors.
Property managers in Carlsbad specialize in those tasks which distract you from charting your next investment course. It is entirely possible for landlords to handle this work themselves—but the more properties you have, the more inefficient it becomes to manage them all alone.
Working with a property manager in Carlsbad gives you the freedom to accomplish your own goals and to supervise the choices they make on your behalf. You want to know there will be no dip in the quality of interactions with your tenants. At Raintree Property Management, we take pride in giving excellent service that is fueled by years of experience.
When you know that you want to see long-term growth in your real estate investment portfolio, turn to Raintree Property Management: we are your guide to managing a growing investment portfolio in the Carlsbad CA area!
